Advances in computing and networking technology have made new forms of media content possible. For example, virtual reality media content is available that may immerse viewers (or “users”) into interactive virtual reality worlds that the users may experience by directing their attention to any of a variety of things being presented in the immersive virtual reality world at the same time. For example, at any time during the presentation of the virtual reality media content, a user experiencing the virtual reality media content may look around the immersive virtual reality world in any direction with respect to both a horizontal dimension (e.g., forward, backward, left, right, etc.) as well as a vertical dimension (e.g., up, down, etc.), giving the user a sense that he or she is actually present in and experiencing the immersive virtual reality world from a particular viewpoint (e.g., vantage point) within the immersive virtual reality world.
In some examples, a virtual reality media provider may provide virtual reality media content that includes an immersive virtual reality world representative of real-world objects and scenery (i.e., as opposed to computer-generated, animated, or other virtual objects and scenery). For example, the immersive virtual reality world may represent a real-world event (e.g., a sporting event, a concert, etc.) that may be taking place in real time (e.g., a live event), a fiction or non-fiction live-action program (e.g., a virtual reality television show, movie, documentary, etc.), or another type of program involving real-world objects and scenery.
Traditionally, immersive virtual reality worlds based on real-world objects and scenery are “flat” in the sense that all the real-world objects and/or scenery of the immersive virtual reality world are represented within virtual reality media content in the aggregate, as a flat conglomerate scene as viewed by a person standing at a fixed spot in the real world. This may be true even in cases where stereoscopically different versions of the flat conglomerate scene may be presented to each eye of a user experiencing the immersive virtual reality world to give the scene a three-dimensional appearance. As a result, the immersive virtual reality world may look realistic to the user from the particular viewpoint of the user, but there may be significant limitations placed on specific objects included in the flat conglomerate scene as to how the specific objects may be presented, manipulated, modified, and so forth with respect to other objects included in the flat conglomerate scene and with respect to the immersive virtual reality world in general.